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English
Etymology
From Middle English smal, smale, small, smalle, smel, smæl, from Old English smæl (“narrow, slim; slender; fine; small; quiet”), from Proto-West Germanic *smal, from Proto-Germanic *smalaz (“small”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mal- (“small; little”).
Cognates
Cognate with Scots smaw (“small; minor”), Yola smaale, small (“small”), North Frisian smaal, smeel, smääl (“narrow”), Saterland Frisian smäl (“narrow”), West Frisian smel (“narrow”), Alemannic German schmaal (“narrow”), Bavarian schmoi (“narrow; slender”), Dutch smal (“narrow; small”), German schmal (“narrow; slender”), Low German small (“narrow; slender, small”), Luxembourgish schmuel (“narrow”), Vilamovian śmoł, šmoł (“narrow”), Yiddish שמאָל (shmol, “narrow”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish smal (“narrow; slim”), Gothic 𐍃𐌼𐌰𐌻𐌹𐍃𐍄𐍃 (smalists, “smallest”); also Latin malus (“bad, distressing, nasty; evil, mischievous, wicked; destructive, hurtful, noxious; abusive, hostile, unkind”), Belarusian малы́ (malý, “small”), Bulgarian and Macedonian мал (mal, “small; minor”), Czech and Slovak malý (“small”), Polish mały (“small; little; humble; short”), Russian ма́лый (mályj, “small; short”), Serbo-Croatian ма̑л, mȃl (“small”), Ukrainian мали́й (malýj, “small”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
small (comparative smaller, superlative smallest)
- Not large or big; insignificant; few in number.
- Synonyms: little, microscopic, minuscule, minute, tiny; see also Thesaurus:small
- Antonyms: big, (said of an amount of something given) generous, large; see also Thesaurus:large
A small serving of ice cream. A small group.
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.
2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist[1], volume 407, number 8841, archived from the original on 25 November 2020, page 70:Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.
2020 August 13, Ashley Strickland, “The reason we’re shooting laser beams between Earth and the moon”, in CNN[2], Atlanta, Ga.: Warner Bros. Discovery, archived from the original on 9 October 2025:The orbiter has been observing the moon since 2009, and its reflector is a smaller version of reflector panels placed on the lunar surface during the Apollo 11, 14 and 15 landings on the moon. Soviet lunar robotic landers sent in 1970 and 1973 also carried smaller reflectors.
2024 October 4, Chris Lau and Nodoka Katsura, “This is the world’s smallest Rubik’s Cube. And it actually works”, in CNN[3], Atlanta, Ga.: Warner Bros. Discovery, archived from the original on 12 November 2025:Guinness World Record confirmed the micro-cube as the world’s smallest rotating puzzle cube in August.
- Humiliated or insignificant.
- The bullies had succeeded in making him feel small.
- Having a small penis, muscles, or other important body parts, regardless of overall body size.
- Synonyms: little, under-endowed (of genitals)
Though over six feet tall, the man was very small and ashamed to undress.
- (figuratively, not comparable) Young, as a child.
- Synonyms: little, (Scottish) wee, young
- Antonyms: adult, grown-up, old
Remember when the children were small?
- (writing, not comparable) Minuscule or lowercase, referring to written or printed letters.
- Synonyms: lowercase, minuscule
- Antonyms: big, capital, majuscule, uppercase
1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 584:"I've got catholic tastes. Catholic with a small "c", of course."
- Evincing little worth or ability; not large-minded; paltry; mean.
- Not prolonged in duration; not extended in time; short.
a small space of time
- Synonym of little (“of an industry or institution(s) therein: operating on a small scale, unlike larger counterparts”).
- small science
- (archaic) Slender, gracefully slim.
- (especially clothing, food or drink) That is small (the manufactured size).
I'll have a small coffee, thanks.
Derived terms
Translations
not large
- Afrikaans: klein (af)
- Ainu: ノカン (nokan)
- Albanian: i vogël
- Altai:
- Northern Altai: киджиг (kidžig)
- Southern Altai: кичинек (kičinek), кичӱ (kičü)
- Amharic: ትንሽ (tənš)
- Antillean Creole: piti, ti
- Arabic: صَغِير (ṣaḡīr)
- Egyptian Arabic: صغير (ṣuḡayyar)
- Hijazi Arabic: صغير m (ṣaḡīr)
- Moroccan Arabic: صغير (ṣḡīr)
- South Levantine Arabic: زغير (zḡīr)
- Aragonese: chiquet
- Aramaic:
- Hebrew script: זעורא (z‘ūrā, z‘ūro)
- Syriac: ܙܥܘܪܐ (z‘ūrā, z‘ūro)
- Armenian: փոքր (hy) (pʻokʻr), մանր (hy) (manr), (colloquial) պուճուր (hy) (pučur)
- Aromanian: njic
- Arrernte:
- Eastern Arrernte: akweke
- Assamese: সৰু (xoru)
- Asturian: pequeñu (ast)
- Aymara: jisk'a (ay)
- Azerbaijani: kiçik (az), balaca (az), xırda (az), ufaq
- Bangi: -ke
- Bashkir: бәләкәй (bäläkäy), бәләкәс (bäläkäs), кесе (kese), кескәй (keskäy)
- Basque: txiki (eu)
- Belarusian: мале́нькі (be) (maljénʹki), малы́ (malý)
- Bengali: ছোট (bn) (chōṭ)
- Bhojpuri: छोट (chōṭ)
- Breton: bihan (br)
- Bulgarian: ма́лък (bg) (málăk)
- Burmese: သေး (my) (se:), နုပ် (my) (nup)
- Buryat: бишыхан (bišyxan) (Russian Buryat)
- Carpathian Rusyn: малый (malŷj)
- Catalan: petit (ca)
- Cebuano: gamay
- Central Atlas Tamazight: ⴰⵎⵥⵢⴰⵏ m (amẓyan)
- Chamicuro: na'yejchoma
- Chavacano: chico
- Chechen: жима (žima), кегий pl (kegii)
- Cherokee: ᎤᏍᏗ (usdi)
- Chichewa: -ng'ono
- Chickasaw: ishkanno'si'
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 細 / 细 (yue) (sai3)
- Dungan: щё (xio)
- Eastern Min: 細 / 细 (sá̤)
- Hakka: 細 / 细 (se)
- Hokkien: 細 / 细 (zh-min-nan) (sè, suè)
- Mandarin: 小 (zh) (xiǎo)
- Wu: 小
- Chuvash: пӗчӗк (pĕč̬ĕk)
- Comorian:
- Ngazidja Comorian: -fupvi
- Cornish: bian
- Crimean Tatar: kiçik, kiçkene
- Czech: malý (cs) m
- Dalmatian: pedlo
- Danish: lille (da), liden
- Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can
- Dutch: klein (nl), nietig (nl), minuscuul (nl)
- Egyptian: (nḏs)
- Erzya: вишка (viška), вишкине (viškine)
- Eshtehardi: خوردیک (xurdik)
- Esperanto: malgranda (eo)
- Estonian: väike (et)
- Ewe: sue
- Extremaduran: please add this translation if you can
- Faroese: lítil (fo)
- Finnish: pieni (fi)
- French: petit (fr), minuscule (fr)
- Frisian:
- West Frisian: lyts (fy)
- Friulian: please add this translation if you can
- Gagauz: küçük
- Galician: pequeno (gl)
- Georgian: პატარა (ka) (ṗaṭara), მცირე (mcire)
- German: klein (de), gering (de)
- Alemannic German: chlii
- Gothic: 𐌻𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌹𐌻𐍃 (leitils)
- Greek: μικρός (el) (mikrós)
- Ancient Greek: μικρός (mikrós), (Epic) τυτθός (tutthós)
- Doric Greek: μικκός (mikkós)
- Gujarati: નાનું (gu) (nānũ)
- Haida: xajúu, ts'úujuu
- Hausa: ƙure
- Hawaiian: liʻiliʻi, iki
- Hebrew: קָטָן (he) (katán), קטנה f (katanah), קטנים m pl (katanim), קטנות f pl (katanot)
- Hindi: छोटा (hi) (choṭā), क्षुद्र (hi) (kṣudra), छोट (hi) (choṭ), नन्हा (hi) (nanhā), सगीर (hi) (sagīr)
- Hmong:
- White Hmong: me
- Hungarian: kicsi (hu), kis (hu)
- Icelandic: smár (is), lítill (is)
- Ido: mikra (io)
- Igbo: ńta
- Ilocano: bassit
- Indonesian: kecil (id)
- Ingush: зӏамига (zˀamiga)
- Interlingua: parve (ia)
- Irish: beag
- Old Irish: bec
- Isan: please add this translation if you can
- Istriot: peîcio
- Italian: piccolo (it), ristretto (it)
- Japanese: 小さい (ja) (ちいさい, chiisai), 小さな (ja) (ちいさな, chiisana), 狭い (ja) (せまい, semai) (for area size)
- Javanese: cilik (jv), alit
- Kaitag: никӏва (niḳva)
- Kalmyk: бичкн (biçkn)
- Kannada: ಚಿಕ್ಕ (kn) (cikka)
- Karachay-Balkar: гитче (gitçe)
- Kashubian: môłi
- Kashmiri: لۄکُٹ m (lọkuṭ), نیُٛک m, خۄرٕد (khọrụd), پیٛوٗنٛت m (pyūnt)
- Kazakh: кіші (kiši), кішкене (kiškene), ұсақ (usaq)
- Khakas: кічіг (kìçìg), кічиӌек (kìçicek)
- Khmer: តូច (km) (touc)
- Korean: 작다 (ko) (jakda), 작은 (ko) (jageun) (determiner)
- Koryak: тэгʼыйчыгʼын (tehəjčəhən), ныппулюӄин (nəppuĺuqin)
- Kumyk: гиччи (giççi)
- Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: بچووک (ckb) (bçûk)
- Northern Kurdish: çûçik (ku), çûk (ku), piçûk (ku), qicik (ku)
- Kyrgyz: кичине (ky) (kicine), кичинекей (ky) (kicinekey)
- Laboya: maraha
- Ladin: pitl (Gherdëina)
- Lao: ນ້ອຽ (nǭi), ນ້ອຍ (nǭi)
- Latgalian: mozs
- Latin: parvus (la), paulus
- Latvian: mazs (lv) m
- Lingala: -ke
- Lithuanian: mažas (lt)
- Lü: ᦓᦾᧉ (noay²)
- Luganda: -tono
- Lutuv: taa
- Luxembourgish: kleng (lb)
- Macedonian: мал m (mal)
- Malay: kecil (ms)
- Brunei Malay: damit
- Malayalam: ചെറിയ (ml) (ceṟiya)
- Maltese: żgħir m
- Manchu: ᠠᠵᡳᡤᡝ (ajige)
- Mandar: keccu
- Mansi:
- Northern Mansi: (please verify) ма̄нь (mānʹ)
- Manx: beg
- Māori: iti
- Mapudungun: pichi, pici
- Marathi: छोटा m (choṭā), छोटी (choṭī), छोटे n (choṭe), लहान (lahān)
- Mari:
- Eastern Mari: изи (izi)
- Marshallese: dik
- Mauritian Creole: ti
- Minangkabau: kaciak (min), ketek (min), kenek (min)
- Mingrelian: ჭიჭე (č̣ič̣e)
- Mirandese: pequeinho
- Miskito: sirpi
- Mòcheno: khloa'n
- Moksha: ёмла (jomla)
- Mongolian:
- Cyrillic: жижиг (mn) (žižig)
- Naga:
- Khiamniungan Naga: hà
- Nanai: нучи (nuči)
- Neapolitan: piccere f
- Norman: p'tit (Guernsey, Jersey)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: liten (no)
- Nynorsk: liten
- Occitan: pichon (oc), pichòt (oc), petit (oc)
- Odia: ଛୋଟ (or) (choṭa), କ୍ଷୁଦ୍ର (or) (kṣudra)
- Ohlone:
- Northern Ohlone: kutsú̆̄wis
- Old Church Slavonic:
- Cyrillic: малъ (malŭ)
- Old East Slavic: малъ (malŭ)
- Old English: lȳtel
- Oromo: yartuu
- Pangasinan: muelag
- Pannonian Rusyn: мали (mali)
- Pashto: وړوکی (waṛukay), کوچنی (kučnay)
- Persian:
- Iranian Persian: کوچَک (fa) (kučak), خُرْد (fa) (xord), کِهْ (fa) (keh), سوتام (fa) (sutâm), ریز (fa) (riz)
- Polish: mały (pl)
- Portuguese: pequeno (pt)
- Punjabi:
- Gurmukhi: ਛੋੱਟਾ (choṭṭā)
- Quechua: juch'uy (qu)
- Rapa Nui: iti
- Réunion Creole French: ti
- Romagnol: znén
- Romani: tikno
- Romanian: mic (ro)
- Romansh: pitschen
- Russian: ма́ленький (ru) (málenʹkij), ма́лый (ru) (mályj)
- Rwanda-Rundi: -toya
- Sami:
- Northern Sami: unni, uhcci
- Samoan: sogi
- Sanskrit: अर्भ (sa) (arbha), अल्प (sa) (álpa), स्वल्प (sa) (svalpa)
- Santali: ᱯᱤᱞᱪᱩ (sat) (pilcu)
- Savosavo: gnari
- Scots: (standard, Ulster) wee, (modern Orkney) peedie, (Shetland, archaic Orkney) peerie
- Scottish Gaelic: beag (gd)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: ма̑л
- Latin: mȃl (sh)
- Shan: လဵၵ်ႉ (lâ̰ek)
- Shor: кичиг (kiçig)
- Sicilian: nicu (scn)
- Sidamo: shiima
- Sindhi: نَنڍو (nãḍho)
- Sinhalese: කුඩා (si) (kuḍā)
- Slovak: malý (sk)
- Slovene: majhen (sl)
- Somali: kis, yar (so)
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: mały
- Upper Sorbian: mały m
- Spanish: pequeño (es), chico (es), parvo (es)
- Sundanese: alit (su)
- Svan: კოტო̄ლ (ḳoṭōl), მო̄ლე (mōle)
- Swahili: -dogo
- Swedish: liten (sv)
- Sylheti: ꠢꠥꠞꠥ (huru)
- Tabasaran: бицӏи (bic̣i)
- Tagalog: maliit
- Tahitian: iti
- Tajik: хурд (tg) (xurd), кӯчак (küčak)
- Tamil: சிறிய் (ciṟiy), சிறிய (ta) (ciṟiya), சிறிய (ta) (ciṟiya), சின்ன (ta) (ciṉṉa)
- Tarantino: piccele
- Tarifit: ameẓẓyan m
- Tashelhit: ⴰⵎⵥⵉ m (amẓi)
- Tatar: кече (keçe), кечек (keçek), бәләкәй (bäläkäy)
- Telugu: చిన్న (te) (cinna)
- Ternate: ici
- Tetum: ki'ik
- Thai: เล็ก (th) (lék)
- Northern Thai: please add this translation if you can
- Tibetan: ཆུང་ཆུང (chung chung)
- Tocharian B: yekte, totka
- Tok Pisin: liklik
- Tongan: si'i
- Tooro: -taito, -ke
- Turkish: küçük (tr), ufak (tr)
- Ottoman Turkish: كوچوك (küçük), اوفاق (ufak)
- Turkmen: kiçi
- Tuvan: биче (biçe)
- Udi: пӏатӏар (ṗaṭar)
- Udmurt: пичи (pići)
- Ugaritic: 𐎕𐎙𐎗 (ṣġr)
- Ukrainian: мале́нький (malénʹkyj), мали́й (uk) (malýj)
- Urdu: چھوٹا (ur) (choṭā)
- Uyghur: كىچىك (ug) (kichik)
- Uzbek: kichik (uz)
- Venda: ṱuku
- Venetan: picenìn
- Vietnamese: nhỏ (vi), bé (vi)
- Vilamovian: klīn
- Volapük: smalik (vo)
- Walloon: pitit (wa) m
- Waray-Waray: gu-ti-ay, di-to
- Welsh: bach (cy), bychan (cy), mân (cy)
- Wolof: tooty
- Wutunhua: ga
- Xhosa: -nci
- Yakut: кыра (kïra), аччыгый (aččïgïy)
- Yámana: yaxa
- Yiddish: קליין (kleyn)
- Yup'ik: -cuar
- Zealandic: klein, kleên (dialectal variant), smal (mostly obsolete)
- Zhuang: iq
- Zulu: -ncane
- Zuni: ts'ana
- ǃKung: tse-ma
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young
- Arabic: صَغِير (ṣaḡīr)
- Moroccan Arabic: صغير (ṣḡīr)
- South Levantine Arabic: زغير (zḡīr)
- Armenian: փոքր (hy) (pʻokʻr), պստիկ (hy) (pstik), փոքրիկ (hy) (pʻokʻrik)
- Asturian: pequeñu (ast)
- Azerbaijani: balaca (az), kiçik (az)
- Bashkir: кесе (kese), кескәй (keskäy), бәләкәй (bäläkäy)
- Belarusian: мале́нькі (be) (maljénʹki), малады́ (maladý)
- Bulgarian: ма́лък (bg) (málăk)
- Catalan: petit (ca)
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 細 / 细 (yue) (sai3)
- Mandarin: 小 (zh) (xiǎo), 年輕 / 年轻 (zh) (niánqīng)
- Czech: malý (cs) m, mladý (cs) m
- Dutch: klein (nl), jong (nl)
- Eshtehardi: جوون (jevōn)
- Esperanto: juna (eo)
- Finnish: pieni (fi), nuori (fi)
- French: petit (fr), jeune (fr)
- Frisian:
- West Frisian: lyts (fy), jong
- Galician: pequeno (gl), cativo (gl) m
- German: klein (de), jung (de)
- Greek: νέος (el) m (néos)
- Hawaiian: liʻiliʻi
- Hindi: नन्हा (hi) (nanhā), जवान (hi) (javān), सगीर (hi) (sagīr)
- Hungarian: kicsi (hu)
- Igbo: ọbele
- Indonesian: kecil (id)
- Italian: piccolo (it), giovane (it)
- Japanese: 小さい (ja) (ちいさい, chiisai), 若い (ja) (わかい, wakai)
- Javanese: cilik (jv), alit
- Kashmiri: لۄکُٹ (lọkuṭ)
- Korean: 어린 (ko) (eorin)
- Latin: iuvenis (la)
- Luxembourgish: kleng (lb), jonk
- Macedonian: мал m (mal)
- Malayalam: കുഞ്ഞ് (ml) (kuññŭ), ചെറിയ (ml) (ceṟiya)
- Mapudungun: pichi
- Marathi: लहान (lahān)
- Mari:
- Eastern Mari: изи (izi)
- Minangkabau: mudo (min), ketek (min), kenek (min)
- Naga:
- Khiamniungan Naga: hà
- Norman: p'tit (Jersey)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: liten (no), ung (no)
- Pashto: وړوکی (waṛukay), کوچنی (kučnay)
- Persian:
- Iranian Persian: جَوان (fa) (javân), بُرْنا (fa) (bornâ)
- Polish: mały (pl), młody (pl)
- Portuguese: pequeno (pt), jovem (pt)
- Romanian: mic (ro), tânăr (ro)
- Romansh: giuven
- Russian: ма́ленький (ru) (málenʹkij), молодо́й (ru) (molodój)
- Rwanda-Rundi: -toya
- Sami:
- Northern Sami: unni, uhcci
- Sicilian: nicu (scn), jùvini m or m pl or f or f pl
- Slovene: majhen (sl)
- Spanish: pequeño (es), joven (es)
- Sundanese: alit (su)
- Swahili: -changa
- Swedish: liten (sv), ung (sv)
- Tamil: இளைய (ta) (iḷaiya)
- Tarifit: ameẓẓyan m
- Tatar: яшь (tt) (yäş)
- Telugu: చిన్న (te) (cinna)
- Turkish: küçük (tr)
- Ugaritic: 𐎕𐎙𐎗 (ṣġr)
- Ukrainian: мале́нький (malénʹkyj), молоди́й (uk) (molodýj)
- Volapük: yunik (vo)
- Welsh: bach (cy), ieuanc (cy), ifanc (cy)
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minuscule or lowercase, referring to written letters Translations
- Spanish: small (Americas), esmol (Central America)
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Translations to be checked Adverb
small (comparative smaller, superlative smallest)
- In a small fashion
Don't write very small!
- In or into small pieces.
- 2009, Ingrid Hoffman, CBS Early Morning for September 28, 2009 (transcription)
- That's going to go in there. We've got some chives small chopped as well.
- (obsolete) To a small extent.
- (obsolete) In a low tone; softly.
c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], line 49:That's all one: you shall play it in a mask, and / you may speak as small as you will.
Derived terms
Noun
small (countable and uncountable, plural smalls) (nominalized)
- (uncountable, especially clothing, food or drink) One of several common sizes to which an item may be manufactured, smaller than a medium.
- Synonym: S
- (countable, especially clothing, food or drink) An item labelled or denoted as being that size.
Two smalls and a large, please.
- (countable, especially with respect to clothing) One who fits an item of that size.
- (countable, rare) Any part of something that is smaller or slimmer than the rest, now usually with anatomical reference to the back.
I got a splitting pain in the small of my back
Derived terms
Verb
small (third-person singular simple present smalls, present participle smalling, simple past and past participle smalled)
- (obsolete, transitive) To make little or less.
- (intransitive) To become small; to dwindle.
Anagrams
Icelandic
Pronunciation
Verb
small (strong)
- first/third-person singular past indicative of smella
Low German
Etymology
From Middle Low German smal, from Old Saxon smal, from Proto-Germanic *smalaz. Cognate with German schmal, Dutch smal, English small.
Adjective
small (comparative smaller, superlative smallst)
- narrow
- small, slender
Declension
Comparative forms of small
Superlative forms of small
Note: This declension is one of many; neither its grammar nor spelling apply to all dialects.
Middle English
Adjective
small
- alternative form of smal
Norwegian Bokmål
Verb
small
- (non-standard since 2005) past tense of smelle
Norwegian Nynorsk
Verb
small
- past tense of smella
Swedish
Verb
small
- past indicative of smälla
Anagrams
Yola
Adjective
small
- alternative form of smaale
- GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY:
- A small neal.
References
- Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 58
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